32 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



February, 191 5 



How much of the mixture really stays on the trees? There's naturally a bie waste, but it 



can be wonderfully reduced by usinff an even pressure machine with eood nozzles in favorable 



weather. The illustration shows a Gould power sprayer. 



Spraying Experitnents in Nova Scotia 



DURING the last three years Mr. 

 G. E. Sanders, Field Officer in 

 charge of the Dominion Entomo- 

 logical Laboratory at Bridgetown, N.S., 

 has been investigating the life-histories 

 of the Budmoth and Green Fruit-worms 

 and studying methods of control. The 

 Budmoth constitutes the most serious in- 

 sect pest of the apple orchards in Nova 

 Scotia, causing more loss probably than 

 all other insects combined. This inves- 

 tigation is now practically concluded and 

 not only has the best methpd of combat- 

 ting them been determined, but the edu- 

 cational and demonstration work that has 

 been carried on has resulted in a very 

 encouraging increase in spraying with 

 significant results. A publication giving 

 the results of this investigation is in 

 course of preparation ; in the meantime 

 it is desirable to state briefly some of the 

 conclusions. 



Most of the spraying experiments were 

 carried out in the orchard of Mr. R. S. 

 Eaton at Kentville, N. S. Spraying 

 work under the Branch's direction was 

 also carried out in other orchards. At 

 Kentville, the Budmoth infestation in 

 the check (unsprayed) plots was: 20.5 

 per cent, in 1912, 47.4 percent, in 1913, 

 and 59.5 per cent, in 1914. The spray 

 mixtures varied and were put on in 



different series as regards lime of ap- 

 plication. The best results were obtain- 

 ed with two sprays, the first applied 

 three days before the blossoms opened 

 and the second immediately after the 

 blossoms fell ; spray formula used was : 

 Lead arsenate five pounds, commercial 

 lime sulphur two and one-half gallons, 

 and w<> er one hundred gallons. The 

 orchard in which the chief experiments 

 were carried on was close planted with 

 Wagners, a variety very susceptible to 

 Budmoth injury. In 1914 the infesta- 

 tion was reduced to twenty-two per cent. 

 after two years' spraying, the unspray- 

 ed plots showing an infestation almost 

 three times as great ; the spray, there- 

 fore, kills about two-thirds of the insects. 

 The Budmoth, as its name implies, 

 affects the buds and the blossom clusters 

 suffer severely from its attacks, the set 

 being reduced very materially. It was 

 found that the reduction in set due to 

 Budmoth was about thirty per cent. The 

 injuries, however, are not confined tothe 

 buds for in the fall the young larvae fre- 

 quently fasten the leaves upon which 

 they are feeding to the apples and dam- 

 age the latter by feeding upon them, 

 producing scars which reduce the grade 

 of the fruit. A considerable percentage 

 of the apples which would grade Nos. 



I and 2 are reduced to No. 3 and culls 

 from the Budmoth injuries. 



The value of the educational cam- 

 paign for spraying, where none is car- 

 ried on and intelligent spraying where 

 sprays are applied without sufficient 

 knowledge of the methods of attaining 

 the objects in view, was illustrated by a 

 recent examination of the apple pack 

 of one of the fruit companies in the 

 Annapolis Valley, where special efforts 

 are being made by Mr. Sanders to get 

 more f)eople to spray. The results set 

 forth in the table published on this page 

 speak for themselves. 



Operating for Black Rot Canker 



Paul Fisher, Bnrliigtoo, Ont. 



Trees with black rot canker should 

 be treated in the same manner as bad 

 teeth. Remove the diseased parts. Can- 

 ker gets a start in slight wounds and 

 causes the death of many trees. It can 

 be cured by cutting out diseased parts, 

 disinfecting and painting the wounds. 

 We have used coal tar as a paint and 

 disinfectant with good results. How- 

 ever, injurious effects sometimes follow 

 the use of this material. It is safer to 

 use corrosive sublimate as a disinfectant 

 anid paint with white lead. 



The disease is perhaps our most seri- 

 ous pest. It pays to control it by sur- 

 gical methods. Prof. L. Caesar took 

 a hopeless orchard belonging to the Lon- 

 don Asylum, cut out the cankers, dis- 

 infected the wounds, and it is now like 

 a new orchard. 



•Spray:— No. 1, Semi-dormant; No 2, Before bloesoms open; 

 lome fall; No. 4. Two weeks later; No. 5, Ten days later. 

 ••This is the beet spray for Budmoth. 



No. 3, Immediately after bios- 



The Jonathan is a variety which we 

 find succeeds best in districts with 

 long and warm growing seasons, with 

 high temperatures during the hottest six 

 weeks, and usually on the Pacific Coast, 

 under irrigation. Jonathan, we found, 

 however, to do well, and sometimes very 

 well in districts apparently not nearly so 

 well suited as the most favored ones. 

 In our own Okanagan Valley, where 

 such points as Kelowna have a growing 

 season of two hundred and one days, 

 eleven thousand five hundred and seven- 

 teen heat units, and a temperature for 

 the six hottest weeks of sixty-six de- 

 grees F., the Jonathan is bearing heav- 

 ily and producing fruit of high color and 

 excellent dessert quality. Because of the 

 rather shorter season, the keeping qual- 

 ity is much improved, giving us a sea- 

 son up to the end of January under ordi- 

 nary storage. In cool seasons, however, 

 even in our most favored sections, the 

 Jonathan may be below grade in both 

 quality and appearance. On the whole, 

 our Jonathans would be largely confined 

 to the Okanagan, Thompson River, 

 Similkameeii, and Kettle River districts, 

 and preferably in warm locations and in 

 good deep soils. — R. M. Winslow, Vic- 

 toria, B. C. , Provincial Horticulturist. 



